Revival
by Collarander the Unicorn
Summary: Another revival story of Aeris? Maybe. Everybody has regrets about the past, but is it right to try to repair them?
1. A New Beginning

**Revival**

I'm been putting off this fic for a while, it didn't sound right, and I'm having trouble as well trying to figure out a full plot for this. I hope the people who are reading don't just stop and go, "It's just another Aeris revival fic, geez, what's the point in reading, they always turn out all corny and stupid." :p

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy 7 does not belong to me.

Well, I hope you like this one.

This is the time, after the events of Sephiroth and Jenova. Meteor, seemingly gone, and Holy, faded into the light of the morning........leave the world of Final Fantasy 7 in peace.

The Lifestream, the essence that had saved the lives of millions of people, has now returned to the planet, returned to the one that has called upon it, Aeris Gainborough, the last Ancient to walk the earth.

But for the great deeds she has given, is there, maybe a chance to bring her back, to reward her with life?

An orange glows baths the ruins of power, the Shinra Headquarters lies under it's own waste and dust, the events of the world had changed, changed so dramatically it seemed as if nothing would ever be the same.

But then, why did the sun still rise and set? Why did people still continue their work during the day, and sleep during the night?

Cloud, and the rest of the members of Avalanche look over the ruins, trying to find the strength to overcome heartache and tears. But there was one that laid on their minds strongly enough to know that it could not be forgotten.

As the rest of the world settles down, now without a care, the team were left with what they had. This was the consequence of their actions, along with the death of Sephiroth and Jenova.

It was time to move towards the future, Avalanche had won the battle and now they all walked off on their own ways, to where each of their lives would begin again. Forgetting the events, especially the death of a faithful friend.

""Hey, catch!"

A faded cushion goes flying through the air, a blond spikey headed man whirls around quickly. Caught offguard, the soft cushion bounces onto his chest and falls to the ground. A woman laughs a few feet away, "I told you to catch!"

Tifa smiles at Cloud, then turns back to the cardboard box on the floor.

It was now a month after the end of Sephiroth, and Tifa and Cloud had decided to settle in the town of Kalm. It was time for new beginnings, and the couple had just purchased a home for themselves. There wasn't much to pack, must of their furniture was new, except for the few things that everybody had been able to carry along on their journey. Tifa was busy rummaging through a box of all the things that they had, there wasn't much, but at least it felt familiar to her, unlike everything she was surrounded by.

Reaching down to the bottom, her hand closes around a hard wooden object, curious, she moves her other hand into the box to help pry it out. Cloud comes up behind her, after watching her struggle slightly, goes up to the other side of the box and picks it up. Tifa looks up as a shadow comes over her. Cloud gives a faint smile, then grabs the box and turns it upside down, the contents fall out, flooding Tifa with old blankets, books and bits of scrap metal,

"Cloud!"

Tifa casts an annoyed look at him, then turns to the object in her hands, it was a woden frame, with the words, "Gold Saucer" clearly imprinted at the top. Tifa looks at the photo, and at the people in it in turn, her eyes fall on her and Cloud, they were both smiling, even though they were halfway through a life threatening trip, and Tifa recalled how much fun she had, the bright lights, the happiness, and the feeling of having a family again. But then her eyes move to the person standing on the other side of Cloud, the smile on this person was enough to cause her heartache. Unnoticed tears form in her eyes, and fall gently onto the new pale blue carpet. Cloud, noticing her silence, comes up behind her and looks at the photo, one glance was enough for him to know what she was crying about, and immediately, trying to comfort her he puts his arm around her and reaches for the photo, "Tifa, I don't think we should be thinking about that." He tries to tug it out of her grasp, but she holds onto it tightly, "No....Cloud...I want to look at it. It's....the only thing we have of her isn't it..?"

Cloud loosens his grasp, but doesn't completely let go, he had a compelling feeling of wanting to just snatch it away, it hurt too much to think about it, the look on the face of the flower girl in the photo was exactly the same as the one she had given him in her last moment of life.

For a few minutes, they sat in silence, recalling the times everybody had had together, and forgetting completely about unpacking. Finally Tifa gets up to her feet, frame still in hand, she steps over to the mantle above the fireplace and places the photo there, right in the center. Cloud gets up after her, but instead of following her to the fireplace, goes over to the window and looks outside. The sun was shining brightly, and the citizens of Kalm were all going about their daily business, chatting about the weather, or how the prices of the groceries were going up.

Cloud turns to face her, trying to force a smile on his face, "Looks like it's a nice day. Let's go visit Barret or something."

Tifa looks at him, one hand lay by her side, the other was hastedly wiping away the tears, "Yeah. Let's go visit him."

Lol, you know what I'm gonna say now, review please!


	2. Visiting a Memory

"Hey Barret! You home?!"

Cloud rams the door with his fist, impatient and obviously showing it. Behind him, Tifa was standing there, looking at the ground, her eyes seemed a little unfocused, as if she was deeply in thought. "Hold yeh damn horses! I'm comin'!!" A shout rings from the house, and footsteps thunder closer and closer to the door. Tifa looks up at the house in surprise, as the door swings open and a disgruntled looking Barret glares at them. His look changes completely as he finally realised who his visitors are, then stepping away from the door, he motions for them to go inside, "Thought you were one of those damn advertisers. They've been hassling me all day!"

Tifa and Cloud step into the house, the objects in the shelves were familiar, too familiar...it seemed as if time had been rewinded and they were once again standing in the flower crowed house in the slums. This was Elmyra's house, and all the furniture was from her old residence in the slums of Midgar. Marlene had grown attached to living with the woman, and so Barret had decided to find a home nearby, but without luck yet, he had decided to stay with Elmyra and his young daughter.

Tifa couldn't help herself, and before she could turn away, tears emitted from her eyes. Cloud looks at her sympathetically, but doesn't say anything, he was feeling slightly depressed himself. This house was just too big of a memory. Barret hadn't noticed, he was rambling away to himself, "Ya know, Elmyra and Marlene are out shopping. Do ya think I should 'ave went with them? Don't know what kinda stuff that woman is gonna buy- " His eyes land on Tifa, who was crying silently, and Cloud trying to comfort her. Immediately stopping his ramblings, he turns a sympathetic eye on her, "What's the matter Tifa? Come over here an' sit down."

Tifa nods slowly, then walks over to the sofa, Barret follows her and the trio all seat themselves on the dull orange couch. Tifa reaches up to wipe away the tears, but all they did was make room for more. Cloud, unsure of what his next action should be, looks questioningly at Barret.

"Well, what's up Tifa? Haven't seen ya cryin' for ages."

"It's nothing Barret...just thinking about the past again. I know I shouldn't..." Tifa turns away from Barret, unable to finish her sentence as the words seemed to bring up more memories. She didn't know what to do now, always being able to control herself from going beyond the point of tears. She felt lost, unsure of herself now. It was too much.

"Tifa?"

Cloud had reached for her hand, she could feel him trying to create comfort, and forcing herself to look up at him, into his eyes, she suddenly felt a wave of thoughts go through her mind, _"...Why am I crying? Cloud's not....and he saw it all happen right in front of him, and he's not going on about it...why did I become so....weak?"_

"Tifa? You gonna be okay?"

Another voice broke through the silence, Tifa recognised it as Barret's, another voice trying to give her comfort. But before she could answer, a feeling of wanting to just be alone rose up inside her. She stood up quickly with both Cloud and Barret looking at her in surprise, then turned without a word and headed towards the door and out into the town.

"Tifa!" Cloud stood up as well, almost about to take off after her, but a strong arm grabs him. "Let her go. She just needs time to think about."

Cloud turns to his friend, then drops himself back onto the couch just as the door gives another creak, "What is going on here?" Both Barret and Cloud turn towards the door, in which Elmyra and Marlene were occupying. Marlene were busily jumping up and down as she ran over to Barret, "Look daddy! Aren't my new clothes pretty?"

"Yes Marlene. Now why don't you go upstairs and put them away nicely in your drawer?" "Yes daddy!" And with that, the five year old was off up the stairs and into her room, the bags swinging wildly behind her. "Well?" asked Elmyra, still standing at the door, now with a questioning look on her face. "Why was that young woman running from here crying? You two didn't upset her did you?"

Cloud looked at the floor uncomfortably, sliding a sidewards glance at Barret, who was doing exactly the same thing. A silence filled the air, in which Elmyra was still keeping a gaze on the two men as they both tried not look at her face.

The silence ended with the return of Marlene, the bags were still in her hand, only slightly opened. Three pairs of eyes turned to look at her, as she ran up to a shelf in the corner that was completely covered with all sorts of flowers in vases, Cloud could just make out something sitting in the middle, near completely drowned in all the flora. A photo? He thought to himself. Looking closer, he could see that it was indeed a photo, of Aeris. It was the one from the Gold Saucer trip which had the whole of Avalanche in it, except that this one was cropped down and enlarged, so it only had the smiling face of the Ancient on it.

"Look flower lady! I just brought new clothes! Do you like them? I thought I should show you before I put them away."

"Now why don't you go put them away Marlene. You don't want them to get damaged do you?" Elmrya placed a hand on the young girl's shoulder. Marlene turned around to look at her, "Nope, of course I don't. But....I wish the flower lady was still here..." There was an uncomfortable silence after this sentence, where nobody had anything to say,

"She is. She's here with us in spirit." The last answer came from behind Elmyra, Cloud was looking at the little girl, who looked back at him in surprise. "She is?" She asked Cloud, who nodded affirmatively but slowly, then added, "Even if we can't see her. She can see us, and she's watching over us."

"Really?!"

This time, not only Cloud nodded, but so did Barret and Elmyra. Marlene had a smile on her face has she turned back to the photo. "Flower lady, if you are right here with me, then I shouldn't be sad should I? Because I know you're watching over me and I won't ever be alone! I'm going to put my clothes away now. Bye bye!"

And with that Marlene was back off up the stairs. Once she was out of sight, Elmyra turned to Cloud, she was also smiling, "Thank you for that Cloud. You've cheered her up so much. Now I don't have to see that sad face of hers everytime I mention flowers or anything else that reminds her of Aeris. Now, why was that young woman crying just before? She looked awfully distressed."

Cloud finally decided to answer the question, that subject had moved to Aeris already without his help and so he wouldn't have the worry of causing more people tears by bringing it out into the open, "Tifa was just reminded of Aeris again. So was I, this house..."

"Oh yes, I see. Well, why don't you go tell her what you just told Marlene. I think it will help her understand that Aeris, though she might be gone, would have wanted us to be happy, not shedding tears of sorrow for her loss."

Cloud nodded, "I suppose I better go and find her now." Barret and Elmyra accompany him to the door, not saying much. But just as Cloud raises his hand up to wave, a phone rings. The trio look around, confused, then Cloud looks down at his pocket, the PHS was ringing loudly and people outside were already complaining about its noise. Quickly, Cloud swipes it out and brings it to his ear, "Hello?"

"Cloud? It's me, Reeve. I think you should come down to Midgar. We found something....interesting. Looks like another one of Hojo's experiments. We're not sure what to do with it, it's quite, distressing. If you see Barret, bring him down, and Tifa too I suppose. It's quite urgent, do you think you can come now?"

Cloud nodded, though he knew Reeve could not see it, "Yeah, I'll come over now. Once I find Tifa."

"Right. I'll be over by the Sector Five area waiting."

Cloud turned off the PHS, it definitely sounded important, but what was it that they uncovered after a month of searching in the debris that would require immediate attention? He looked at Barret, "We're heading to Midgar now, get ready and meet me by the the inn. I'll go find Tifa."

End of Chapter 2.


	3. The Unexpected Discovery

A girl of about sixteen years knelt on the bits of scrap metal and garbage that surrounded her. This was the remains of Midgar, and now after the danger had vanished, Yuffie had come along with Reeve and the other members of Avalanche to find survivors of the disaster. It had been a futile attempt, there was not one living soul littered in the remains. All they found were bodies, too many to count. It had been a month after the destruction occurred, and most of the rescue team had declared that the search was useless, but Yuffie had stayed. If not for wanting to help, then to save her own pride. She remembered it, after the final battle Cid had taken them home. And while on the Highwind, Cait Sith had asked it they could rally up to help find any survivors in Midgar, obviously everybody had wanted to come along, to see how much damage had been created by the huge ball of fire.

A few days later, with no luck, people had headed home, and Yuffie had decided to call Wutai. Maybe they would come help, all the other cities had sent rescue parties, that was, except for Wutai. It was embarassing that such a high economic country was not sending help.

But Godo rejected her proposal straight off. _"We are not going to help our enemy. Midgar has recieved it's reward for it's behavior and now it should understand how defeat feels! Yuffie, if you do not return home now, you will lose the guardianship of Leviathan!"_

Yuffie had made a adamant stand against him, with her arguments saying that this was not a war. And the people that were hurt were not soldiers, they were normal, innocent people. All the other places had helped, why wasn't Wutai? In doing this, Wutai was just giving itself more disrespect, shame and embarrassment in the eyes of everybody else. Evidently, this last statement had crossed the line, has Godo had immediately turned off the phone, and was not answering any calls. Wutai had pretty much gone into isolation.

"Well, I'll show that old man! I'll find something or somebody and then everybody will see me as a hero and then the old man will be begging me to forgive him!"

The trouble with that oath was that there just wasn't anything of worth to be found. Only bits of rubble and what looked like an entire plumbing store in the ruins. Even Reeve was giving up. He was now going round Midgar telling people to go home, he had asked Yuffie to go home at least five times now, but she had refused, saying that all they needed was a little more time. She wasn't going to admit her argument with Godo, it was her affair and nobody else's.

Her hands were cut and bleeding, working with bits of sharp metal for a month had left them in bad shape, and she had thought that the whole training and battle with Sephiroth would had been the worse treatment her hands could recieve. Well, no point thinking about it now. She reached for her giant shuriken, the Conformer, that lay beside her. Casting a Cure spell on herself, she watched as the fluid green envelope her, than dissapear into the air. Looking at the emerald orb in her materia slot, she was reminded of the time when everybody had stood in the airship, watching as Holy and Meteor had battled. Then when it seemed as if everything was lost, the Lifestream had flowed out of the ground, it had come from everywhere, blinding their vision and saving their lives. If it could do that, why couldn't it have at least left the lives of some of the people in Midgar?

Picking up a sharp rock off the ground, she began to pound it into the ground, she wasn't exactly watching the space as she hit it. Her eyes were on the remains of the Shinra HQ. It was still the tallest building in Midgar, but not by much she mused to herself.

Suddenly, a sound of something shattering broke her thoughts, looking down immediately, she caught sight of a piece of glass, cracked but not broken from where she had hit it. But it wasn't the glass she was busy staring at, she was sure she had just seen the face of somebody she knew. From the light brown hair to the green eyes. No, it couldn't be, she though to herself. But this bit of glass might contain something actually of worth! And with that she began to move away the bits of rubbish and dust that lay on top of the clear but solid material. It looked slightly rounded, as if it was a huge tube or something, and now she could see water inside it. She continued to dig, then suddenly jumped back with a scream.

She hadn't been dreaming, it was the face of the Ancient in the tube. Shuffling closer, she could see the the partly excavated tube held the body of the Ancient, could Hojo have taken her body from the water in that Cetra city place? She couldn't imagine even him being that low.

Her scream had attracted the attention of some of the nearby people. Reeve had come running, wondering if the kid was hurt. He had told her to go home, why didn't she listen to his advice. When he reached her, he could tell she wasn't hurt, but she looked as if she had been petrified, and his shouts of "Yuffie! What's wrong!?", didn't seem to reach her, so instead, he grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her, his nerves were on end as he wondered if she could be permanently injured. What would he say to everybody? It would obviously be his fault if the kid was hurt, it was his idea to have the Midgar search. His fears finally subsided as he realised Yuffie was muttering something under her breath, he couldn't hear her words, but their seemed to be directed at the ground, where a bit of glass was poking out of.

He turned to look at the glass, it reflected off a bit of light from the angle the was standing from it, and all he could make out was a huge glare. Bending over, he thought he saw something move inside it, and curiously, wondering if the movement had been a trick of the light he peered into the glass.

"Holy-" Reeve jumped back, as if he had been struck my lighting. Without being able to see his next step backwards, he tripped over a protruding bit of metal tubing and landed heavily on the ground. There was confusion in his mind, was he sure about what he had just seen? He turned to Yuffie for confirmation, who seemed to have finally come over her initial shock, but was still slightly pale. "Did you see....what I just saw..?" Yuffie nodded, but was unable to say anymore. Seeing people who were suppose to be dead was obviously unsettling, but for the other searchers had wandered over after they heard the commotion, it was just a person. A person in a tube.

Reeve stood up, dusting himself off as he did. The searchers were now all busy, clambering around the glass and trying to pry it out of the debris. Reeve and Yuffie stood in the background, watching as the minutes passed away and finally the tube was completely excavated and pulled out of dirt. There were curious comments all round, but one was lying strongly on the minds of the two members of Avalanche, "Was she still alive?"

Reeve pulled out the PHS from his pocket, this was a huge situation. He would have to alert the other members of Avalanche and get them to come right away. His first calls were to the nearest members, Cloud, Tifa and Barret, who were all situated in the town of Kalm. But as he made the call, he decided not to mention what the discovery was, it would be best for everybody to see it first.


	4. Return To Midgar

A door slams with a resonating bang that rings throughout the house. But the brown haired woman takes no notice as she walks quickly over to the sofa on the other side of the room. Still drowning in tears, Tifa seats herself down on the new fabric, thoughts racing through her mind. Everybody, why did everybody have to die? Mama, Papa, her friends, everybody in Nibelhiem! Now Midgar was the same, reduced to nothing. She had thought that after she joined a resistance group, they could do everything, stop every death, save every life. But reality was different, too different.

Had Avalanche saved the lifes of people, or lost them? Biggs, Wedge and Jessie would never have faced the fate that befell when the Sector Seven plate was dropped if they hadn't blown up a reactor. Hadn't Aeris sacrificed her life, to save them from their deaths?

Looking back on the events, all Tifa could recall was the bad things, it just didn't seem right. They had been hailed like heroes when they returned from the North Crater, but were they really? Or were they just a bunch of murderers, like Shinra?

She couldn't stop thinking about Aeris, they had been friends. Probably her closest friend since Nibelheim, they had shared thoughts, secrets and fears of the future. And now that she was gone, Tifa felt she didn't have anybody to confide in, sure Cloud and the rest of Avalanche were still there for her, but it just seemed they were missing something, the something that Aeris had, maybe it was the ability to calm people and instill hope or maybe it was because Aeris had had the same rough similarly tragic past and she could pretty much relate back.

Whatever it was, Tifa felt that she was being haunted by it, every little thing brought back a memory of the scene. She could have stopped it, and then Aeris wouldn't have been killed, she would have been laughing and smiling with the rest of them after they had defeated Sephiroth and watched Meteor be destroyed. She could recall the times she had had with the flower girl, and the amount of times that Aeris mentioned 'the future' seemed to be impossible to count. It was as if she was just waiting for the time when Shinra was gone, so that she would be free of the callings of the Ancients and then be able to move on and live a normal life.

It seemed ironic to Tifa, how Aeris was the one who towards the future the most, and then, was the only one who didn't get to experience it.

"Tifa? You in here?"

The door slid open and a spikey haired blond popped his head in. "Tifa, I was worried about you. You shouldn't have run off like that, I was afraid you might have gotten hurt.."

Cloud walks overs to the woman, who was still trying to wipe away the tears,

"Thinking too much is bad for you Teef." Cloud added as he plopped onto the couch beside her, she turned towards him, a merest flicker of a smile on her face. "Maybe you're right."

"Oh yeah, and Reeve called. Said he found something really interesting in Midgar. He told us to come by as soon as we could, I think he's invited everybody else to come along too. So let's go, maybe he found a million gil in the dump, and if he has, then I want to see it!"

"Yeah, let's go see him....and everybody else again."

Tifa gets up from her seat, trying to push away the thoughts from her mind. It was best not to mention it to the rest of Avalanche, as they had all tried to get over the accident as much as they could. Mentioning the name of the Ancient was just going to cast a dark cloud over everybody and cause uncomfortability.

The couple headed out, into the bustling town of Kalm, people were still everywhere. It seemed the biggest form of entertainment in this town was trading rumours and talking about the news. As Kalm had lost a lot of it's electricity income after Shinra was destroyed, people now didn't have the luxury of TV and air conditioning unless they wanted to pay a lot of money. Most homes had reverted back to burning wood, so jobs for collecting burning materials were opening for many people. Which was a good thing, as it seemed many people had taken Reeve's warning and had left Midgar before Meteor struck. But the bad news was that Kalm was becoming slightly overcrowded by people without jobs and few belongings.

"Did you hear about Wutai? Looks like the head there isn't welcoming visitors nowadays.."

"I hear you can find good jobs in Junon. They're starting up a second power plant in Junon so that they can start supplying other towns and cities with electricity..."

"Really? Do you think it might just turn out to be another Midgar? After all, they're going to get a lot of power from this, I hope they don't start gettin' greedy...."

Tifa could hear the snatches of conversation from the people all round outside. They didn't keep their voices down very much, it sounded as if they wanted people to hear, then come over to question them more about the rumors that kept flying around.

She had already heard about the opening of a new power plant in Junon. It seemed as if these new people running it were genuinely wanting to help the other towns without electricity, but then, things could change she thought to herself.

Cloud however didn't seem to have heard any of the conversations that were going on, he was busily trying to pry himself and Tifa through the crowds of people towards the inn. When they finally got there, they found Barret, stamping his foot impatiently. But more surprisingly was the little girl clinging onto his leg. Cloud was the first to show his curiosity at this, "Barret, why is Marlene here?"

"Elmyra is sick. She's restin' at the inn, they think her disease is contagious so I can't leave Marlene with her. I don't want Marlene to get sick, and I don't want that woman ta be disturbed while she's sleepin'."

"But," Cloud added, "why don't you just leave her with somebody else in this town? You know, we're going to Midgar. It's not the safest place in the world."

"#$#!! Don't ya think I know that?!" Barret retaliated, "But I don wanna just leave her here with some stranger."

"And I want to go with daddy!" Marlene piped up at the spikey headed man, Cloud decided not to argue back before a shouting match came about, it was clear that Barret was obviously not going to leave Marlene behind, and probably understandable after all the separation they had had during the whole Sephiroth, Jenova and Shinra period. And, he added to himself, Marlene was an extremely persistent little four year old.

"Well, then. I guess, just look after her Barret."

"What do ya think I'm trying to do?!"

"Come on then I suppose. Let's mosey and head to Midgar!"

Barret opens his mouth to say something back, but with a glance from Tifa, closes his mouth again and follows group off into the fields towards the huge city.

An hour later

"Well....looks like we're here..." Cloud added emotionlessly, his eyes were busy scanning the area for any monsters heading their way.

"You sure? Last time I saw this junk it had some places where the rubbish was at least a foot high!"

"Barret!"

The four stood at the site. The place looked even more broken down than it had the last time they had been there. Now it looked as if a huge city of rats had come in and tore up the last shreds that had remained. In fact, now that Tifa though about it, Barret's point might have been valid, the area definitely looked....flatter.

"Hey over here!"

The group all tore their eyes away from the remains to see a man waving at them. They were still quite a distance away, but looking closely, they could see he was wearing a blue suit. Which meant it could have only been one person, Reeve. His voice seemed quite shakey from what they could hear, and as they approached, it was obvious that the ex-Shinra executive was not in his original state of calmness. Yuffie was sitting a little way from his, she didn't seem to notice they were coming. It felt kind of eerie wondering what everything was all about that was making the two act so strangely. A blanket sat all spread out a bit further down. Cloud looked at it, wondering if that was where they slept at night or took rests on. But it seemed to be on a kind of slant, as if there was something under it, something round.

When the group finally reached the two, they could see Reeve was a little bit calmer now with their presence. Yuffie had looked up when they arrived, then turned back towards the ground. This was definitely strange to everybody, Yuffie had always been known as one of the constant talkers, and right now, it would have been better if she had been blabbering away, it would have taken the edge of the feeling of nervousness everybody was feeling. Reeve finally decided to say something, it didn't seem as if anybody else was going to start the conversation off. "Well....it's nice of you all to come..." His eyes strayed to Marlene who was busy looking around in the bits of garbage, then glanced at Barret's face. The look on it made it obvious that he shouldn't argue about why the girl was here.

Cloud had already become impatient with the silence, "So why're we here? You said you found something, so are we going to see it?"

"Well....I asked everybody else in Avalanche to come see it too, and I thought it would be better if we wait until they all arrive first."

"$#$! Stop wasting our time ya Shinra spy!"

Tifa looked up, she had thought she had heard a plane above her, scanning the horizon, she could make out a tiny dot in the sky, for being so small, the sound was growing increasingly louder, "Well, looks like we won't have to wait for long Barret."


	5. Overwhelming Reunion

Dust clouds the air as the sound of a whirling blade crashes through the peace and calm. The figures standing on the ground all raise their arms up to cover their faces as they are shrouded in fragments of metal and glass.

The airship, Highwind landed with a loud 'thud' as waves of currents rushed through the ground, causing tremors and piles of rubbish to collapse. With the mist still swirling in the air, the group on the ground could not see the people that had arrived, but it was obvious who it was going to be.

They could make out a lighted cigarette in the mouth of one of the people exiting the ship,

"Now what the hell did you ask us to come for?! It better be damn worth it!"

Finally, the mist cleared, and they could see the new arrivals, obviously Cid, who had been the first to state his opinion about having to come. Then behind came Red XIII, and in the rear, Vincent, who looked sullen. Everybody seemed to be sulking about having to come, but then, they had a point, being dragged out of their daily routine to a place they wished they never had to return was not a walk in the park. The look on everybody's faces made Reeve decide that it was better to just get to the point,

"Well, we're all here now....all of us, everybody in Avalanche."

Barret opened his mouth, wanting to state that the former members, Biggs, Wedge and Jessie weren't exactly standing there with them, and neither was the Ancient. But before he could get the words out, another thought clicked in his mind, they were here. Buried somewhere under all the rubble that was once Midgar, the only one that wasn't was the flower girl, who was sleeping under the waves in the Cetra city. Barret glanced around, Yuffie was busy staring at the ground, looking uncomfortable about the comment, while the rest of the group, apart from Reeve had the same confused look, wasn't Aeris part of Avalanche?

Reeve could see the look on the faces of the group, finally, once he had decided that the comment had had enough time to sink into them, he added, "Come over here..."

They headed towards the sheet covered ground, now Cloud could tell there was something definitely rounded under it. He wondered what it could be. Tifa was looking slightly apprehensive, the question, _"What about Aeris?" _had seemed to be soundlessly voiced into the silence. She wasn't entirely sure she wanted to see what was under the blanket, it was going to be connected to the Ancient, and she knew it. Yuffie had the same look, though she knew already what it was, she was unsure if she wanted to se it again. when somebody died, it usually meant you didn't see them again, well, not their body. Cid and Barret both had looks of boredom on their faces, what could under that, a bed of flowers? It couldn't have been THAT important could it?

Vincent and Red took up the end, Red wasn't sure what to think of it, he could not think of anything that could be under the blanket that would have needed such attention, but then, Reeve was a dilligent person. He would give them a clear idea of what they were going to face. Red shrugged to himself, either way, this was either going to be a big surprise, or an big overreaction on Reeve's part.

Reeve reached down to pick up a corner of the dusty and plainly dirty sheet. He motioned to Yuffie to grab the other end, but instead of doing so, Yuffie turned and walked away behind the group, peering out from behind Vincent's back.

"Fine..." Reeve muttered under his breath, but then a shuffling movement caught his eye. Marlene had come up to the front of the group to see what had caused such attention. But instead of the usual happy face she usually carried about, she looked curious as she peered at the blanket, then to everybody's surprise, she stepped towards it, her mouth slightly open, "Flower lady?? It's the flower lady!"

A wave of overwhelming disbelief and anxiety hit the group, Tifa mostly. She stepped back, wanting to run away. Cloud, Barret, Cid and Red were all staring in shocked surprise at the little girl. Reeve did not say anything, he could feel the pairs of eyes on him, questioning him for confirmation. He exhaled strongly, looking down at the ground, he felt as if he couldn't make eye contact with any of them. And unsure if this was the right thing to do at this point, he decided it was better to get it over and done with, so with one huge flourish, pulled away the sheet and revealed the surprise.

Tifa lurched away from Cloud. Falling to the ground on her knees as her legs became weak. Cloud wore a look of shock on his face, as he turned to Tifa. The cigarette fell from Cid's mouth, and Barret let out a nearly inaudible curse, "Holy &(&$!!".

Red had tried to cover up his look of shock, and was now staring at the ground. Yuffie stood behind everybody, forcing herself not to look at the face of the woman in the tank.

A deathly silence crossed over the group. Nobody wanted to say anything, fearing that it might cause more anxiety, or in and extreme case, wake up the woman who looked as if shse were sleeping on the ground in front of them. The only one that was still trying to get over shock was Marlene. The little four year was busy looking into the tank, she hadn't even noticed that everybody else were all acting strangly. Cloud, who was busy trying to clam Tifa, looked up at Reeve, "Are you sure that's her...?"

Reeve wasn't sure what the answer was, all he could give was his opinion on the matter. "I don't know....it could be one of Hojo's experiments..." Cloud turned back to Tifa, his mind was in turmoil, just like everybody else, he couldn't understand why this was happening, was this just some cruel joke from a mad scientist to drive them all back into insanity?

"It's not the flower lady."

Eight pairs of eyes turn to look at the one who had spoken. Marlene had a slightly defiant look on her face as she continued to speak, "The flower lady was here. But now she's gone..."

"Marlene.." Barret studdered at the girl, "What do you mean by she '_was' _here? Did you mean when we used to live here too?"

The little brown haired girl shook her head, "No daddy, it was when you were gone. When that big ball of fire was coming here, the flower lady came and made it go away."

Cloud cringed at this last statement. He had been sure he had sensed Aeris when the Lifestream rose from the ground. But he had decided not to mention this to anybody, and now he knew the truth, Aeris had come to save them, even in death. But, to hear it from the mouth of another person gave it entirely new meaning. A collective round of gasps then a chillling silence filled the air, nobody knew what to say next, what could they say?

"Well I know what we're #& goin' ta do! We'll just bury it and forget that we ever laid eyes on this shit!" Cid shouted at the rest of the group. Everybody around him gave his a disbelieving look, "We can't do that..." Cloud added, making Cid retort, "Why the hell not?!"

Cloud couldn't understand why Cid would think that getting rid of the evidence would help. If they took Cid's advice, it would only add to the guilt they felt. Here was maybe a possibility to bring back the one person they wished they could, they couldn't just bury it. Cloud shook his head, finally deciding to answer Cid's question, "...if you think burying it is the right thing to do, then you do it."

Everybody turned towards Cid, it didn't really matter anyway what his answer would be. They had already come to a conclusion between each other, this was a chance, and no matter how tiny the possibility was, they were going to have to take it.

End of the fifth chappie. And I noticed that I haven't said a particular line for four chapters now, and that's, 'review please!' I need reviews as encouragement! lol :p


	6. Together Under The Stars

"Who the hell said that I was the one who was gonna do it?!?!"

Cid rebukes at the faces of the rest of Avalanche around him. Even if he had been the one to suggest the idea of going out to search, it didn't mean that he was the one who was going to carry it out. He could never do such a thing, not to something that so strongly looked like the girl that he had once laughed and make jokes to, or cursed in some way that made her laugh.

"But it was your idea Cid. And if you think it's the right thing to do, then you should do it." Reeve knew now that the pilot would never do such things, but it was fun to just taunt him along, "We won't hold you back."

"The #$&# did I just say?!"

Everybody gave off a small smile towards Cid's outburst, Tifa was still slightly trying to recover from the shock of the discovery. She turned towards Cloud, unsure if he would be able to answer her question, "....what do we do now Cloud..?"

All eyes snapped back to the spikey blond, even Marlene's, they were all wondering about the effects of this, and how it would maybe bring them all back into another adventure for information. Cloud, uncomfortable with the pressure that everybody were putting on him reached up to scratch the back of his head. He didn't any idea for what to do next, he was just as lost as they were right now. Why was everybody relying on him for an answer when he didn't have one? Cloud didn't say anything, he knew that everybody could already tell that he would not be answering that question.

Red, now bored with the silence headed back towards the huge metal tube. He glanced into it, it was almost heartbreaking and painful how just looking at her face seemed to bring back the memories of times they had all had together. But, he decided, there was no point in thinking about that, it was the past, it was over now. He began to think about how this happened, it was obvious that it was from Shinra, but....how? He turned back to the rest of the group, directing his question at everybody, "Do you think this is the....real thing? Or maybe just a clone that Hojo create, like those men in black cloaks like Sephiroth?"

"I told you, it's not the flower lady. She's not here any more."

"I know what ya just said Marlene. But the red animal was asking if that's Aeris' real body?" Barret injected, he didn't know why or how Marlene seemed to know so much, but he was willing to take answers from anybody at this point.

"Ummm...." The little turned to look into the tube again, then she added, "I don't know what you are asking." This caused everybody to exhale in somewhat frustration, how were they going to put it any clearer? Tifa could feel the tension closing in on the group, sensing that nobody was going to take a shot, she decided to try, "Marlene.."

The girl turned to look at her, their eyes locked as Tifa continued, "..can you tell if that is the...body that the flower-" She stopped for a moment, she knew she wouldn't be able to hold back more memories from flying back at her if she mentioned the name, but even calling her the 'flower girl' was hard enough. Looking around, she could tell everybody had their eyes placed firmly on the conversation between the two. Choosing her words carefully she decided to go on, "...so it that, the body that her spirit was in when it was still on this world...?"

Marlene looked down at the ground, everybody thought she had decided not to answer the question, but finally,

"It could be....I don't know for sure..."

Barret glares around at the Midgar ruins in anger, "Now what the hell do we do? We can't tell if that's the girl's body anyway! It's not like anybody's gonna go check are they!?"

Yuffie, still standing behind the backs of the group, peers out, "Maybe we could check..." then adds in a more normal voice when everybody gives her a look of disbelief, "Well we could, it's possible you know!"

"But nobody is gonna want ta' do it are they?" Barret shoots back. This whole situation was leading up to one conclusion, and Barret did not like it. It seemed that everybody else were uncomfortable with it too, nobody would meet another his eyes directly when he gave them an annoyed look.

The argument went on, as everybody tried to figure out a plan for the next step to the Aeris discovery. Cloud did not say anything, he and Tifa had taken a backseat to it, and were now spectators in the conversation. Tifa didn't know what to say, she had the overwhelming feeling of wanting it all to go away and leave her and her life. But even with that thought, Aeris was a close friend of hers, and if there was a way to bring her back, she would at least have to try it. Cloud was feeling pretty much the same way, his mind could not sort out the feelings and thoughts that had suddenly overflowed into him when he had seen what had lay inside the tube. He wanted Aeris to come back, of course he did. But was trying to bring her back even an option? After somebody died, they usually stayed dead, and this whole new concept of bringing back the dead wasn't exactly something he wanted to try.

Hours passed, as the Avalanche group continued their search for an answer. They were now all sitting on the dirt ground around a small fire as the stars began to show in the sky. Reeve had pulled out his supply of food, which wasn't entirely fit for a group of nine people, but nobody complained, it was better than nothing. Nobody spoke as they ate, the topic had been pretty much worn out for the day, but the answers still hadn't come.

"Well....I suppose we're all going to stay here tonight?" Reeve had directed his question to the rest of the team, but nobody answered him. Instead of asking again, he was sure of what the answer would have been, he turned back to his meal. Tiny as it was, he couldn't finish it. Like most of the others, he had completely lost his appetite, opposite him Cloud was busy mashing up the pieces of sausage with his fork while Tifa was looking up at the sky, he food untouched beside her. A long silenced passed as the group struggled to consume what was left on their plates. If they hadn't tried to eat it, it would had showed as an obvious sign to everybody else that they were still quite agitated and affected from the discovery. It seemed that Marlene was the only one who was not distressed, as she had gobbled up her portion of dinner then went off back to sleep, whilst everybody else stared dimly at their plates or began scraping the bits of leftovers around in a vain attempt to try to give themselves something else to concentrate on.

Blankets were spread around the fireplace, they were in all sorts of colours and sizes as Reeve had salvaged them from different groups of people who had been heading home earlier. Everybody lay down on them, still with an uncomfortable silence milling around. And soon, one by one, they all fell asleep.

At the middle of the night, Cloud woke up. Somebody had been nudging his arm, and so turning to his side he saw Tifa, she looked worried from what he could see by the dim light of the dying fire. He sat up slowly knowing that rapid movements would wake up Cid who was next to him. He could almost picture the berating he would get from Cid if he woke him up in the middle of the night.

"What's wrong Teef?"

Cloud whispered towards her curiously, she was on her knees next to him looking around to see if anybody else had been woken, then she replied, "Can we go sit over there...?" She gestured towards a bit of portruding metal a little away, Cloud turned to look at it, then nodded. Getting up gently, he pulled off the sheets and followed the brown haired woman. She sat down on the somewhat makeshift seat, Cloud took an immediate seat beside her, keeping his eyes on her face to try to read her thoughts.

Tifa didn't say anything, instead she looked up at the sky which was a clear dark emerald blue. Cloud followed her gaze, the sky looked the same as it always had to him, he wondered why she had called him here.

"This is the first time I've seen the stars from Midgar...."

Cloud turned to her, puzzled. What about all the other nights they had spent on the search for survivors here, and the time when they had headed up the plate to attack Shinra? But then he recalled, he hadn't noticed the stars ever being visible in Midgar, even after all his years in the city up in the plate. Unconciously, he placed an arm around her shoulders. His eyes hadn't left the sky, and neither had the woman's as she leaned towards him. They sat together in silence as the night passed by them, minutes, then hours.

Cloud did not know what to say, he kept turning to look at her face every few minutes wondering if there was more to this than just a night of stargazing. But instead of bringing up his thoughts, he decided to wait for her to choose her own time.

Finally, "....do you think we should bring her back...?"

Cloud shrugged, he wasn't sure at all, but there seemed to be one inevitable answer to it and he knew he had to get it out. "I guess, we have to try."

"All right."

That was the last line Tifa said before she turned away from the stars, "Well," she murmured, "I guess you'll have to tell everybody in the morning." With this, she turned and stood up, then headed back slowly to her sleeping space. Cloud watched her go, unsure if he should follow. Instead, he turned back to the stars, the words that had issued from Cait Sith were unforgettable at this moment. _"You are perfect for each other! Aeris' star and Cloud's star! They show a great future! Cloud, I'll be your matchmaker, preacher...I'll do whatever you want me to! You just call me when it all happens!" _

But, Cloud thought to himself, just because they might have been perfect for each other didn't mean that they were truely in love. He couldn't explain what he had felt for Aeris back then, and now after all this time it was even harder to remember. After Aeris had gone, Tifa had been the one who looked after him. And then their feelings for each other finally showed, bringing back Aeris would overcomplicate things. And he didn't think he could bear to cause her life more pain and sadness, he just didn't know what was right anymore, but that didn't matter, he had made up his mind on the plan already.

Getting up, he headed back to his blankets, the sun was rising in the distance but he decided to go to bed anyway. He peered at Tifa's face when he lay down, she was asleep. He reached over to brush a strand of hair away from her face, then, in a low whisper he added, "I'm sorry."

Lying down on the blankets on his back, he could see the stars now fading from the sky, and closing his eyes he feel asleep to the rising glow of daylight.


	7. Another Adventure

The morning had come, and the members of Avalanche had now awakened from their slumber under the stars. That was, except for one member.

"#$$$&! How long is he gonna sleep for!"

Barret glared across the rows of blankets towards the tuff of blond spikey hair. After his night of continuous thought, Cloud was downright tired. Tifa turned towards Cloud as well, she could emphasize exactly why he was still asleep. She knew he had been up all night thinking, she had felt him reach across to her and heard the words, "I'm sorry" pass from his lips.

What was he sorry about? Tifa was indecisive over wanting to know the answer or not. Sometimes she felt she knew the answer exactly, but at others she felt completely confused.

"Well, the hell do we do now?" Cid called over to her. He wasn't the first to ask though, Tifa had been the reciever of this question the whole morning, but she had never answered it. She was entirely sure of Cloud's answer now, to go and find a way to bring back the flower girl, but she just couldn't bring herself to tell everybody else.

Breakfast was laid out, but Cloud still had not awoken. Tifa cast glances over to his direction but did say anything, she wasn't sure if she should go wake him. The rest of Avalanche looked at her warily, unsure if they should start their meal without their leader. Finally Tifa realised what they had all been waiting for, "Knock yourself out," she added as she gestured towards the food, "I don't want it to go cold..."

Subconciously, she turned back to the spiky haired blond. He was still lying on the ground. Sleeping peacefully she decided. If only she could be in the same state of mind, not having to be aware of the mystery and danger that would soon await her and instead be floating in a world where only hopes and dreams existed. Sighing, she turned back towards the noisy group, she was being silly: a world like that didn't exist and she had known it since her childhood in Nibelheim.

The next few moments passed dully, apart from Barret spilling a glass of water onto Cid and ensuring an argument and near battle. Cloud finally awoke from his slumber a few minutes after everybody else had finished their morning meal to a sky of glowing gold and light breezes. He sat up and glanced around, and only then did he realise that all eyes were on him, waiting for him to reveal their next destination and next adventure.

Finally, the silence and staring eyes began to give way to impatience. Barret and Cid began to tap their feet loudly on the ground, Red sat back on his legs and scratched at an itchy spot behind his ears and Yuffie began to complain once again, this time it was about the whole state of the world. The beginnings of a new power crazed company, the building of tensions between herself and Godo, and most of all, their new discovery.

Tifa knelt down beside him, her brown eyes locked on his, "So, Cloud. What'll it be?" He turned away from her, a feeling of foreboding rose in the group as he opened his mouth to speak. "We're going to do it. I can't just leave her, not like this. If there's a chance, I'm going to waste it. I promised her...now I have to fix it. I don't want to regret." He turned back to Tifa, and whispered, "I can't throw this chance away." She only nodded back. What else would she have throught? Sure it seemed like what they would be trying to do was breaking the cycle of life and death, but this was Aeris they were talking about. The one who had fought valiantly by their side. And had died for it.

Cloud had got to his feet, looking around he could see the workers returning for a new day of searching. It was a whole new day, anything could happen.

"Okay everybody, let's get movin'!"

Nobody needed more encouragement, they all scampered onto the airship, ready for another day of adventure. It was time for a new story to begin.


End file.
